


And It Was

by madame_bingo



Category: Vampire Academy Series - Richelle Mead
Genre: Birthday, F/M, Fluff, One Shot, Post-Canon, Skating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 02:01:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29602137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madame_bingo/pseuds/madame_bingo
Summary: Dimitri has a surprise for Rose on her birthday, but getting Rose to co-operate proves difficult.
Relationships: Dimitri Belikov/Rose Hathaway
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	And It Was

**Author's Note:**

> Just a nice feel-good Romitri one shot. Enjoy :)

I was _this_ close to falling asleep. The combination of closed eyes and the hum of the road was ideal for a great afternoon nap. I, however, didn’t want to fall asleep. Slowly, I lifted my droopy eyelids, hoping to catch a glimpse of the road we drove down. The light barely had time to enter my field of vision when a hand shot out from the driver seat and plunged me into darkness once again. 

“Hey!” I called out. “This is no fair! How come you get to see where we’re going?”

The voice that responded tried to sound annoyed, but I could hear the amusement that played at and softened the edges. 

“Well, for one thing, I’m driving. And what don’t you understand about surprises?” 

“Isn’t the whole point of our job _not_ to be surprised?”

“We aren’t working, Rose.”

I huffed and crossed my arms. I heard a small chuckle come from my left, soft and sweet and warm enough to heat up the whole car. 

“If I move my hand are you going to keep your eyes closed?”

“Yes…” I mumbled.

“Promise?” The playful tone of the simple question made my cheeks flush. I slid down further into the passenger seat. 

“Yes!” I moaned, drawing the word out in a whiney fashion that made another warm laugh fill the car. A second later, I felt that hand slip away from my face and instantly missed the warmth of the touch. I wished I said no.

Despite my promise, I opened my left eye just enough to peek at the man next to me. Dimitri. His hair was pulled back into a small, messy pony-tail. His eyes were focused on the road, but they sparkled with amusement. The fun he was having at my expense almost made my frustrated confusion worth it. For a moment, I just stared, taking him in. No matter how much time we spent with each other, I still had trouble believing he was here, with me. After everything we had been through, I couldn’t help but try to memorize every detail of him whenever I saw him. Dimitri seemed to notice my gaze settle on him. 

“Rose,” he chided. “Are your eyes open?”

“Of course not,” I lied, smirking to myself as I peered at him through the corner of my eye. 

“If I look over and they’re open, I’m not going to show you the surprise.”

“Ugh, fine!” I threw my hands up over my face, leaning back so that I faced the roof of the car. “How much longer do I have to do this, anyway?”

“Just be patient.” I groaned at the sentence that was oddly reminiscent of the old ‘zen life lessons’ Dimitri used to give me. 

~~~~~

I awoke as the engine shut off. I stretched out as best as I could in the front seat. I realized I had been drooling as I slept and quickly wiped off my mouth.   
_How attractive, Rose,_ I thought. I reached for the door handle before I realized that Dimitri was still in the car. I frowned.

“Do I have to close my eyes again?”

“Yes,” he smiled. I squinted at him grumpily.

“Fine.” 

I pressed my eyes close. Dimitri waited for a moment, probably making sure my eyes were actually closed. When he was sure I wasn’t peeking, I heard him open his door. A second later, my door opened and a large hand enveloped mine.

“Follow me,” Dimitri spoke softly. I could hear the smile in his voice. I covered my eyes with one hand, a cheeky reassurance to Dimitri, and squeezed his hand with the other. I walked blindly behind him, heading every ‘watch your step’ or ‘slowly’. Abruptly, Dimitri stood still, letting me run right into him. 

“Wh--” I began, but Dimitri interrupted my inquiry. 

“Sit here for a second,” he said, lowering me down onto a hard seat. Hastily, he added, “And _don’t_ open your eyes yet."

“Yeah, yeah, I get it…” I grumbled. Deprived of my vision, I focused on the sounds around me. I soon realized how hard it was to decipher sounds without your eyes. There was a definite echo to the room, and the sounds of cheerful voices reverberated off the walls. Music played that if I didn’t know any better, I’d say Dimitri had picked just to antagonize me. I began to absent-mindedly swing my legs, letting them bounce off the seat. It sounded like plastic. My leg was halfway through a swing when someone caught it in the air. I felt my shoe slip off my foot.

“Dimitri?” I questioned.

“Rose,” he replied, a note of amusement in his tone. I sat still as he replaced my shoes with something that felt like boots. Very heavy boots. He pulled the laces tight then took my hands. He pulled me gently to my foot, where I suddenly felt very unsteady. 

“Open your eyes.”

I didn’t need to be told twice. 

I felt my eyes go wide when I saw them. Roller Skates. The dingy brown kind that you rented from a… roller rink?! I scanned the room, taking in the sights and sounds. Little spotlights of purples and reds and blues danced across the rink. When I met Dimitri’s gaze he was grinning from ear to ear. 

“You remembered?” I managed to sputter out. He just laughed. I couldn’t believe it. I barely remembered mentioning skating. It was right after coming back to St. Vladimirs, before things managed to get so complicated. During one of our first solo practices, I talked about how I stayed in shape while running from the guardians. There was the usual going on runs and little workouts, of course. But once, a little over a month away from school, there had been a roller rink just down the street from where we were staying. I had wanted to go so badly but before we’d ever had time we were running again. So during one of our early training sessions, right after Dimitri and I had begun getting comfortable around each other, I lamented to him that I _still_ had never been roller skating. 

“Of course I remembered.” 

Of course he had. I grinned back at him, a mischievous look entering my eyes. 

“Wanna race?” 

“Are you sure you can handle it?” Dimitri raised an eyebrow. I was still jealous that I couldn’t do that. 

“Oh you are _so_ on.” I tore off toward the entrance of the floor, finding much more difficult to walk in skates than I expected. I wobbled when my wheels hit the wooden floor, having to use the short wall behind me for balance. I tried to look as cool as possible when Dimitri glided in beside me.

“Still want to race?” 

“Scared, Comrade? Don’t chicken out on me now.”

“Whatever you say,” he chuckled. We both tensed up, ready to take off at a moment's notice. The cheerful dirge that had been playing when we entered faded out and was replaced by a different 80’s hit that I almost could have sworn was the exact same song if it weren’t for the singers voice. 

“Okay. Three…” I started.

“Two…” he continued.

“One!” I tried to get a big push off, but quickly realized that I did not know how to roller skate. Dimitri, however, seemed to be a natural. He slid right past me. In what seemed to be just a few seconds he was practically halfway around the track. I stood, dumbstruck, as he effortlessly spun to face me and began skating… _backwards!?_

“Come on! No fair!” 

_C’mon, Rose,_ I thought to myself. _You kill monsters for a living. You can roller skate, damn it!_

“Still think you can handle it?” Dimitri teased.

“I just wanted to let you get a head start, that’s all!” I called out to him. He laughed and spun back around skating oh-so casually away. There was no way I was letting him win without a fight. After a few embarrassing attempts, I finally started to get the hang of it. But I guess I got cocky, because before I knew it I was flat on my back. I stared up at the ceiling, covering my eyes with my arm to avoid the swirling spotlights. So turns out I couldn’t skate. At all. But that shouldn’t upset me, I could do plenty of other cool things.Why should I be jealous that Dimitri could skate circles around me or spin around with wheels attached to his feet? 

Suddenly, I was scooped up off the ground. I flung my arms back in a dramatic fashion.

“Just leave me on the floor. I’m suck so bad I deserve to get run over,” I groaned.

“You didn’t suck _that_ bad.”

“It’s not funny!” I glared at him.

“You’re right, it’s not funny,” He said, voice serious, though he did nothing to hide the amusement on his face. As we looked at each other, smiles playing at the corners of our mouths, the song changed again. This time it was slow and melodic, soft percussion oozing out of the speakers while the lights dimmed. I wrapped my arms around Dimitri’s neck. I placed a kiss gently on his lips. After I pulled away, I buried my face in his chest, feeling us glide slowly over the wooden floor and listening to the lilting voice of the singer.

_Say my name  
Sun shines through the rain  
A whole life so lonely  
And then come and ease the pain  
I don't wanna lose this feeling, oh_

_Close your eyes, give me your hand  
Do you feel my heart beating?  
Do you understand?  
Do you feel the same?  
Am I only dreaming?  
Or is this burning an eternal flame?_

Dimitri leaned down, his lips brushing my ear as he spoke.

“Happy birthday, Rosa.”

And it was.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday, Libby!
> 
> Listen, Dimitri definitely learned to skate when he lived in Russia, he just never had an opportunity to show off until now.


End file.
